[NEW YORK, NY] Jeremy Hammond, a 28-year-old political activist, was sentenced today to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to participating in the Anonymous hack into the computers of the private intelligence firm Strategic Forecasting (Stratfor). The Ceremonial Courtroom at the Federal Court for the Southern District of New York was filled today with an outpouring of support by journalists, activists and other whistleblowers who see Jeremy Hammond’s actions as a form of civil disobedience, motivated by a desire to protest and expose the secret activities of private intelligence corporations.

The hearing opened with arguments as to what sections of the court record will remain redacted after sentencing. While Jeremy’s attorneys initially erred on the side of caution in previous memorandums and kept large pieces of the record redacted, both the defense and prosecution agreed this morning that many of the sections should now be made available for public view. The prosecution, however took stiff exception to portions of the court record being made public that indicate victims, specifically foreign governments, that Jeremy allegedly hacked under the direction of Hector “Sabu” Monsegur, the FBI informant at the helm of Jeremy’s alleged actions. Judge Preska ordered that the names of these foreign governments remain sealed.

Jeremy’s counsel, Sarah Kunstler, who is 9 months pregnant and due to give birth today, delivered a passionate testimonial as to the person that Jeremy is, and the need for people like Jeremy during this era of exponential changes in our socio-political landscape. (Read Sarah Kunstler’s complete argument HERE) She was followed by co-counsel, Susan Kellman, who wept as she recalled her own experiences reading the hundreds of letters from supporters to the court detailing Jeremy Hammond’s unbridled selflessness and enthusiastic volunteerism. She pointed out that it was this same selflessness that motivated Jeremy’s actions in this case. She closed her testimony by underscoring that, “The centerpiece of our argument is a young man with high hopes and unbelievably laudable expectations in this world.”

Susan was followed by Jeremy Hammond himself, who gave a detailed, touching and consequential allocution to the court. The following is Jeremy’s statement to the court. We have redacted a portion [marked in red]upon the orders of Judge Preska. While we believe the public has a right to know the redacted information therein, we refuse to publish information that could adversely effect Jeremy or his counsel.

JEREMY HAMMOND’S SENTENCING STATEMENT | 11/15/2013

Good morning. Thank you for this opportunity. My name is Jeremy Hammond and I’m here to be sentenced for hacking activities carried out during my involvement with Anonymous. I have been locked up at MCC for the past 20 months and have had a lot of time to think about how I would explain my actions.

Before I begin, I want to take a moment to recognize the work of the people who have supported me. I want to thank all the lawyers and others who worked on my case: Elizabeth Fink, Susan Kellman, Sarah Kunstler, Emily Kunstler, Margaret Kunstler, and Grainne O’Neill. I also want to thank the National Lawyers Guild, the Jeremy Hammond Defense Committee and Support Network, Free Anons, the Anonymous Solidarity Network, Anarchist Black Cross, and all others who have helped me by writing a letter of support, sending me letters, attending my court dates, and spreading the word about my case. I also want to shout out my brothers and sisters behind bars and those who are still out there fighting the power.

The acts of civil disobedience and direct action that I am being sentenced for today are in line with the principles of community and equality that have guided my life. I hacked into dozens of high profile corporations and government institutions, understanding very clearly that what I was doing was against the law, and that my actions could land me back in federal prison. But I felt that I had an obligation to use my skills to expose and confront injustice—and to bring the truth to light.

Could I have achieved the same goals through legal means? I have tried everything from voting petitions to peaceful protest and have found that those in power do not want the truth to be exposed. When we speak truth to power we are ignored at best and brutally suppressed at worst. We are confronting a power structure that does not respect its own system of checks and balances, never mind the rights of it’s own citizens or the international community.

My introduction to politics was when George W. Bush stole the Presidential election in 2000, then took advantage of the waves of racism and patriotism after 9/11 to launch unprovoked imperialist wars against Iraq and Afghanistan. I took to the streets in protest naively believing our voices would be heard in Washington and we could stop the war. Instead, we were labeled as traitors, beaten, and arrested.

I have been arrested for numerous acts of civil disobedience on the streets of Chicago, but it wasn’t until 2005 that I used my computer skills to break the law in political protest. I was arrested by the FBI for hacking into the computer systems of a right-wing, pro-war group called Protest Warrior, an organization that sold racist t-shirts on their website and harassed anti-war groups. I was charged under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and the “intended loss” in my case was arbitrarily calculated by multiplying the 5000 credit cards in Protest Warrior’s database by $500, resulting in a total of $2.5 million.My sentencing guidelines were calculated on the basis of this “loss,” even though not a single credit card was used or distributed – by me or anyone else. I was sentenced to two years in prison.

While in prison I have seen for myself the ugly reality of how the criminal justice system destroys the lives of the millions of people held captive behind bars. The experience solidified my opposition to repressive forms of power and the importance of standing up for what you believe.

When I was released, I was eager to continue my involvement in struggles for social change. I didn’t want to go back to prison, so I focused on above-ground community organizing. But over time, I became frustrated with the limitations, of peaceful protest, seeing it as reformist and ineffective. The Obama administration continued the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, escalated the use of drones, and failed to close Guantanamo Bay.

Around this time, I was following the work of groups like Wikileaks and Anonymous. It was very inspiring to see the ideas of hactivism coming to fruition. I was particularly moved by the heroic actions of Chelsea Manning, who had exposed the atrocities committed by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. She took an enormous personal risk to leak this information – believing that the public had a right to know and hoping that her disclosures would be a positive step to end these abuses. It is heart-wrenching to hear about her cruel treatment in military lockup.

I thought long and hard about choosing this path again. I had to ask myself, if Chelsea Manning fell into the abysmal nightmare of prison fighting for the truth, could I in good conscience do any less, if I was able? I thought the best way to demonstrate solidarity was to continue the work of exposing and confronting corruption.

I was drawn to Anonymous because I believe in autonomous, decentralized direct action. At the time Anonymous was involved in operations in support of the Arab Spring uprisings, against censorship, and in defense of Wikileaks. I had a lot to contribute, including technical skills, and how to better articulate ideas and goals. It was an exciting time – the birth of a digital dissent movement, where the definitions and capabilities of hacktivism were being shaped.

I was especially interested in the work of the hackers of LulzSec who were breaking into some significant targets and becoming increasingly political. Around this time, I first started talking to Sabu, who was very open about the hacks he supposedly committed, and was encouraging hackers to unite and attack major government and corporate systems under the banner of Anti Security. But very early in my involvement, the other Lulzsec hackers were arrested, leaving me to break into systems and write press releases. Later, I would learn that Sabu had been the first one arrested, and that the entire time I was talking to him he was an FBI informant.

Anonymous was also involved in the early stages of Occupy Wall Street. I was regularly participating on the streets as part of Occupy Chicago and was very excited to see a worldwide mass movement against the injustices of capitalism and racism. In several short months, the “Occupations” came to an end, closed by police crackdowns and mass arrests of protestors who were kicked out of their own public parks. The repression of Anonymous and the Occupy Movement set the tone for Antisec in the following months – the majority of our hacks against police targets were in retaliation for the arrests of our comrades.

I targeted law enforcement systems because of the racism and inequality with which the criminal law is enforced. I targeted the manufacturers and distributors of military and police equipment who profit from weaponry used to advance U.S. political and economic interests abroad and to repress people at home. I targeted information security firms because they work in secret to protect government and corporate interests at the expense of individual rights, undermining and discrediting activists, journalists and other truth seekers, and spreading disinformation.

I had never even heard of Stratfor until Sabu brought it to my attention. Sabu was encouraging people to invade systems, and helping to strategize and facilitate attacks. He even provided me with vulnerabilities of targets passed on by other hackers, so it came as a great surprise when I learned that Sabu had been working with the FBI the entire time.

On December 4, 2011, Sabu was approached by another hacker who had already broken into Stratfor’s credit card database. Sabu, under the watchful eye of his government handlers, then brought the hack to Antisec by inviting this hacker to our private chatroom, where he supplied download links to the full credit card database as well as the initial vulnerability access point to Stratfor’s systems.

I spent some time researching Stratfor and reviewing the information we were given, and decided that their activities and client base made them a deserving target. I did find it ironic that Stratfor’s wealthy and powerful customer base had their credit cards used to donate to humanitarian organizations, but my main role in the attack was to retrieve Stratfor’s private email spools which is where all the dirty secrets are typically found.

It took me more than a week to gain further access into Stratfor’s internal systems, but I eventually broke into their mail server. There was so much information, we needed several servers of our own in order to transfer the emails. Sabu, who was involved with the operation at every step, offered a server, which was provided and monitored by the FBI. Over the next weeks, the emails were transferred, the credit cards were used for donations, and Stratfor’s systems were defaced and destroyed. Why the FBI would introduce us to the hacker who found the initial vulnerability and allow this hack to continue remains a mystery.

As a result of the Stratfor hack, some of the dangers of the unregulated private intelligence industry are now known. It has been revealed through Wikileaks and other journalists around the world that Stratfor maintained a worldwide network of informants that they used to engage in intrusive and possibly illegal surveillance activities on behalf of large multinational corporations.

After Stratfor, I continued to break into other targets, using a powerful “zero day exploit” allowing me administrator access to systems running the popular Plesk webhosting platform. Sabu asked me many times for access to this exploit, which I refused to give him. Without his own independent access, Sabu continued to supply me with lists of vulnerable targets. I broke into numerous websites he supplied, uploaded the stolen email accounts and databases onto Sabu’s FBI server, and handed over passwords and backdoors that enabled Sabu (and, by extension, his FBI handlers) to control these targets.

These intrusions, all of which were suggested by Sabu while cooperating with the FBI, affected thousands of domain names and consisted largely of foreign government websites, including those of XXXXXX, XXXXXX, XXXX, XXXXXX, XXXXX, XXXXXXXX, XXXXXXX and the XXXXXX XXXXXXX. In one instance, Sabu and I provided access information to hackers who went on to deface and destroy many government websites in XXXXXX. I don’t know how other information I provided to him may have been used, but I think the government’s collection and use of this data needs to be investigated.

The government celebrates my conviction and imprisonment, hoping that it will close the door on the full story. I took responsibility for my actions, by pleading guilty, but when will the government be made to answer for its crimes?

The U.S. hypes the threat of hackers in order to justify the multi billion dollar cyber security industrial complex, but it is also responsible for the same conduct it aggressively prosecutes and claims to work to prevent. The hypocrisy of “law and order” and the injustices caused by capitalism cannot be cured by institutional reform but through civil disobedience and direct action. Yes I broke the law, but I believe that sometimes laws must be broken in order to make room for change.

In the immortal word of Frederick Douglas, “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”

This is not to say that I do not have any regrets. I realize that I released the personal information of innocent people who had nothing to do with the operations of the institutions I targeted. I apologize for the release of data that was harmful to individuals and irrelevant to my goals. I believe in the individual right to privacy – from government surveillance, and from actors like myself, and I appreciate the irony of my own involvement in the trampling of these rights. I am committed to working to make this world a better place for all of us. I still believe in the importance of hactivism as a form of civil disobedience, but it is time for me to move on to other ways of seeking change. My time in prison has taken a toll on my family, friends, and community. I know I am needed at home. I recognize that 7 years ago I stood before a different federal judge, facing similar charges, but this does not lessen the sincerity of what I say to you today.

It has taken a lot for me to write this, to explain my actions, knowing that doing so — honestly — could cost me more years of my life in prison. I am aware that I could get as many as 10 years, but I hope that I do not, as I believe there is so much work to be done.

The Jeremy Hammond Defense Committee is a coalition of family members, activists, lawyers, and other supporters who are working together to protect free speech and to support Jeremy Hammond. The committee’s goal is to provide information to the public and the press, to organize events related to Jeremy’s case, and to support Jeremy while he is in jail. For more information, please visit http://freejeremy.net.

Hard not to feel sorry for the patsy, because essentially that’s what he is. All he achieved is the acquisition of a lot of data for the FBI. Yes, he worked for the government. That’s the real irony in all this.

But in doing so, despite his motives,he hurt innocent people. This is not “civil disobedience” . I think a lot of this crowd have no idea of the origins of that term and what it really means.

I think he has achieved considerably more than you suggest. Pointing a spotlight and raising awareness for others who will fill inevitably the void created in his absence. I make no judgement on the rights or worngs of this approach.

Thank you for publishing these words of Jeremy Hammond. I wrote a letter to Judge Preska in support of him and urged others to write one, also. She did not show him leniency as we all asked. It seems she cannot see the fuller picture of how people like Jeremy are needed to keep the society alert.

I support the ideal and a lot of what hacktivists do but this effected the very same people he claimed to be standing up for. This is one of the few that probably does deserve prison time for his clumsy, ill-conceived actions. Having said that, 10 years seems very harsh and there is plenty that the FBI should be called to answer for in this “investigation” because a lot of this sounds very similar to entrapment.

The best people behind bars in this Gulag.Yes we had a dream ,it was the Dream of Martin Luther King .Now drones ,the beloved toys of the Obama Family carry out executions.to destroy human rights . A Young hero named Jeremy is sentenced to 10 years so sad,so unbelievable sad.

Thanks Jeremy for your sacrifice! Those innocent people that got caught in the crossfire are still alive. Many of the innocent people that get caught in the crossfire of Obama and the world’s war machine are dead! You are a hero!

Jeremy nailed the situation and again spoke truth to power with his statement. The rampant disregard for the Bill of Rights that the government shows when the victims are citizens exercising their rights to free speech and the perpetrators are corporate intelligence contractors who work for both the government and private multinationals shows the double standard, the very dangerous hypocrisy that pervades Washington and shows that corruption is protected while the truth is purposely hidden away. Jeremy Hammond revealed that the “fix” is in when it comes to movements to hold politicians and corporations accountable for their actions and policies. He performed an invaluable service to his fellow citizens that was completely overlooked when he was sentenced.

I have a similiar case like this going on in my city of sandusky,oh.44870 my number 14199844999 marvin lee roberts i have over 50 witnesses and more than that willing testify family and friends and police who got fired for wanting to tell the truth my sister marice 14406546543,cousin tony 161456532790,my coysin cynthia 15672191734,friend 14196109838,david castile jr.14192028170,

Thank you Jeremy Hammond for your courage and integrity to live by your princibles . You embody the highest and best expression of humanity and encourage me to do the best I can . The world is a better place because of your presence ! Thank you , Bob Stephens

A 10 year sentence for a non-violent offense arguably confirms that Americans conflate “justice” with “vengeance.” Hammond’s lengthy sentence is particularly egregious when compared to some shorter sentences given to violent offenders, i.e., involuntary manslaughter or felony assault.

Too long for me to read, but… as I know there are hackers who stole money from banks or bitcoins, so, if they want to pay, everything can be done:
1)eliminations (anywhere) and
2)setting free from prisons (this option is more for Europe, I don’t have information so much about American prisons).
price for prosecutor or judge 50 000 euro, for liberation 50 000 euro too. + financing action (traveling, accommodation, vehicle, gun, renting flat in target city, etc). nothing face to face.
everything can be done with bitcoins, through black market reloaded ((http://r6rcmz6lga4i5vb4.onion/) BMR has escrow system too, you register as customer and keep money there and you pay me step by step for every single thing, there is no cheating). BMR is improved place for selling drugs and other things, admin never stole money and we use Tor software and pgp for our own security.
for more information, contact me at: BM-2cWnWCS7VWBgE1ufv23ryMXVYTE5gGM4vs@bitmessage.ch
we can also use private message system at BMR. send me your gpg public key.
first it was bradly manning, then assange, now hammond and in the meantime many anarchists in greece, italy, etc… only idiots fight with legal means against repressive departments and their spies. If CIA kills and imprison (in the case of hammond), people must do the same.
message for hackers: hammond financed red cross with money from hacking, I can tell you, red cross is business and spying shit for secret service, the same like unicef and similar, so, better pay some criminal who will kill your enemy. even julian assange can save his ass from swedish prison if anna ardin in stockholm finish dead but he is reformist and he believed in island, sweden, swiss, but now snowden published info and people can see there is no state you can believe. one more time: if CIA kills, you must do the same, in other case, more and more people will be imprisoned and tortured and killed. there are many imprisoned anarchists, they can be set free if they have help from outside. prosecutors and judges should also be eliminated, longer they are alive, more people will be imprisoned.

I am sorry for your pain. The application of violence to solve problems only ever results in pain, fear, resentment, anger and rage which eventually inevitably results in more violence. Peaceful non-compliance is much much slower but the end result is Peace. I respect your opinion but cannot agree with your ideology. I wish you all the best on your journey.

I wonder whether the foreign governments would react in any way to the U.S. government de facto hacking into their systems. After the government surveillance was made public recently, the U.S. citizens did not object to it, and many even approved of it in the name of “security”. Why expect an outpouring public support for a hacker exposing its actions yet again? And why should the motives justify victimizing private citizens?

These intrusions took place in January/February of 2012 and affected over 2000 domains, including numerous foreign government websites in Brazil, Turkey, Syria, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Nigeria, Iran, Slovenia, Greece, Pakistan, and others. A few of the compromised websites that I recollect include the official website of the Governor of Puerto Rico, the Internal Affairs Division of the Military Police of Brazil, the Official Website of the Crown Prince of Kuwait, the Tax Department of Turkey, the Iranian Academic Center for Education and Cultural Research, the Polish Embassy in the UK, and the Ministry of Electricity of Iraq.

As we continue to add to a growing list of truth-telling heroes…
“Either we have hope or we don’t;
it’s a dimension of the soul.
It’s an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart.
[It is] the ability to work for something because it is good,
not because it stands a chance to succeed.
The more unpropitious the situation in which we demonstrate hope,
the deeper the hope is.

Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well,
but the certainty that something makes sense.
What faith means to me is simply this:
it is a particular state of mind,
a state of persistent and productive openness. …

Everything meaningful in life,
though it may assume the most dramatic form of questioning and doubting,
is distinguished by a certain transcendence of individual human existence –
beyond the limits of mere ‘self-care’ –
toward other people, toward society, toward the world.

Only by looking outward, by caring for things that,
in terms of pure survival, one needn’t bother with at all…
[only] by throwing oneself over and over again into the tumult of the world,
with the intention of making one’s voice count –
only thus does one really become a person,
a creator of the ‘order of the spirit,’
a being capable of a miracle:
the recreation of the world.”

Jeremy Hammond is a modern day whistle blower and muckraker. While he should be applauded for his dissent, he is condemned. He admits to his alleged wrong doings and still the government, “celebrates my conviction and imprisonment,” says Hammond. An example is being made of Jeremy Hammond in hopes to prevent further hackings, but it could possibly encourage them. Hammond’s acts could inspire and empower those who recognize the daily injustices of a neoliberalistic agenda.
His 10 year sentence points out the hypocrisies of the American government. Why are the people in power celebrating the punishment of actions they themselves do? With the government’s wiretapping and e-mail reading, Hammond’s hacking is not any different. There is punishment for every day hackers, but not for those doing the same within politics. This situation reveals the obvious double standards between the general public and the government. Hammond risked imprisonment when he sought out to expose the injustices within many corporations and his willingness to put himself in jeopardy for the greater good illustrates his firm belief in changing a somewhat corrupt system.
Six corporations own 99 percent of the media, which reveals how much information is distorted or hidden from society. This fact is closely related to the idea of neoliberalism, in which an elite few have all the power. Those in control make the decisions, usually in their best interests, over the majority. When only a handful of companies control what society sees, information is left out and censured. Hammond’s attempt to expose the majority of intel that Americans do not see was an act of civil disobedience. His goal was to reverse the roles for a change, and reveal to society some of the things the government hides from its people.

Dear Mister Hammond,
greetings from Germany. Many of my people want to thank you for your courage. People like you who give their liberty are the real heros in our world. You fight for all of us and I hope, the people know that.
My heart goes out to you.

I really wish more folks would pay attention to all the things going on behind the scenes. And yes, I realize it’s easier to not pay attention and that we all have obligations and family and other interests.

I am sorry, I just grow very tried of seeing 20 year old men and women getting 10 plus year sentences for drugs and hacking. These youth need something to believe in – they need truth, sincerity and unconditional love. We all want to see Predators and those who physically infringe upon other community members seriously held accountable for their behavior – these are the folks that need to be sequestered from society – NOT youthful explorers who know not what they do.

Our government willy-nilly sends our American youth to fight in pointless, arbitrary wars – with zero gain and actual negative consequence. But since it’s not the children of our political leadership – they simply do not give a shit. It’s the same mindset that can sentence a human being to prison sentence, having never spent a day in jail themselves. It’s the same mentality that can spend our hard-earned dollars on programs without a hind of critical return.

I am all for watching NFL football, and whimsical television shows and movies – by all means enjoy as much of this life as possible….yet like all things – a balance must be established to ensure the harmony of the social-medium we all inhabit.

Thanks, for doing all this, living your live like that. I’m not much into all this, when i was 15, i had to work up to 16 h a day/no day off within 6 weeks, the “Boss” held my arm over a gasflame , i am “disabled” in Germany, social is fake, only time i feel right, is working in a little garden, close to where i gonna be some day, unshure about forgiveness, shure about: no desire, will keep me from coming back

I found this article on Jeremy Hammond to be very inspiring. I have never given much thought to the injustice people were facing until I learned about this in my class. This class has helped to open my eyes to youth activism by making me think with my mind rather than memorize information. In this class, we have covered a number of topics including Neoliberalism, different forms of resistance, personal versus political problems, and more. This has made me realize just how much youth such as me are kept in the dark. I believe we should all try to make changes like Hammond, who has shown selfless behavior, so we can live in a world with justice and equality of wealth distribution.

I find it daunting to think just how much the government is hiding from the public. It makes me really think about what the military and police are really doing. They are supposed to protect the citizens from harm, yet they seem to be working for the people in power to keep the public from having power and freedom. As I learned in my class, only 6 corporations control 90% of the media, which shows just how easy it is for the people in power to only show the events that work in their favor, such as events where the law enforcements are portrayed as “good” and the rebellious people are seen as “bad”.

I also find it bizarre that the FBI would encourage hackers to hack. What is the purpose? Is it meant to be a warning, or does this mean it will lead people to think they need to be protected? I believe we need to make changes before we live in a dystopian world like novels such as 1984 and The Brave New World.

Time to Jail the real criminals:
George HW Bush War Crimes Iraq, & Panama 88
George W Bush, War Crimes Irag
Elizabeth Windsor (the so-called queen) owner of HSBC the bank thats been laundring Drug Cartel funds for over 30 yrs…..Elizabeths secret stash worth billions.
Colin Powell Planning the illegal invasion of Panama, killing 100s, planning the illegal invasion of Iraq..by lying to the UN. 1,000s died.
Henry Paulson, investor fraud, the deliberate collapse of the Tech Boom he and GoldmanSachs started “Getting out from the Top” in March 2000 to bring GW Bush to power….Defrauding 1,000s of their own investor mid to small cap investors.
White Collar Wall Street Crime….destroys families, retirement funds, the future of this Country